Ziani, Pietro Andrea

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Ziani, Pietro Andrea

Ziani, Pietro Andrea, Italian organist and composer, uncle of Marco Antonio Ziani; b. Venice, c. 1616; d. Naples, Feb. 12, 1684. He took holy orders in 1640, then was a canon regular and organist at S. Salvatore in Venice. From 1657 to 1659 he served as maestro di cappella at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo; in 1662 he became Vice-Kapellmeister to the Dowager Empress Eleonora in Vienna. In 1669 he succeeded Cavalli as 1storganist at San Marco in Venice; went to Naples in 1677, where he was named a teacher at the Cons. S. Onofrio. He also became honorary organist at the Naples court, where he was made maestro di cappella in 1680; was pensioned in 1684. He wrote 23 operas, including Le fortune di Rodope, e di Damira (Venice, Carnival 1657), L’Antigona delusa da Alceste (Venice, Jan. 15, 1660), La congiura del vizio contra la virtù (Vienna, Nov. 15, 1663), and La Circe (Vienna, June 9, 1665). He also composed sonatas for 3,4,5, or 6 instruments (1691), church music, etc.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire